Bynum, William Preston, 1820-1909.

William Preston Bynum was valedictorian of the Davidson College class of 1842. He studied law and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from Davidson College in 1881. During the Civil War, he was a lieutenant in the Beatties Ford Rifles and later commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the Second North Carolina Regiment. He was elected as solicitor of the Seventh Judicial District in 1862. He was also an Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, 1873-1878.

From the description of Collection, 1838-1839. (American Museum of Natural History). WorldCat record id: 722301831

William Preston Bynum (1820-1909), Republican, lawyer, prosecutor, and associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

From the description of William Preston Bynum papers, 1778-1916, 1941-1944. WorldCat record id: 23150122

William Preston Bynum (1820-1909), jurist, prosecutor, and lawyer, was born on his father's plantation on Town Fork, one mile south of Germanton, in Stokes County, N.C. Bynum's parents were Hampton Bynum, son of Margaret Hampton and Gray Bynum, and Mary Coleman Martin, daughter of Nancy Shipp and John Martin. Bynum received a log-school education near Germanton before he entered Davidson College in 1837. Being graduated as valedictorian of his class on 4 August 1842, Bynum next read law under Richmond M. Pearson and was admitted to the bar in Rutherfordton, N.C.

After practicing law in Rutherfordton, Bynum moved to Lincoln County, where he married Ann Eliza Shipp, a cousin, on 2 December 1846. Bynum practiced law in Lincolnton until the Civil War erupted.

Although he came from a Federalist-Whig family of strong nationalist convictions and although he opposed secession, Bynum was elected lieutenant of the Beatties Ford Rifles and later was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Second North Carolina Regiment, effective 8 May 1861. Bynum saw military action with the Second Regiment at the Seven Days' Battle, Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, and Sharpsburg, and the regiment was in reserve at Fredericksburg. When the First Regiment lost all regimental officers at Malvern Hill, Bynum temporarily commanded it. When the Second's commander, Colonel Charles Courtenay Tew, was killed at Sharpsburg, Bynum commanded the Second. Bynum's military career ended on 21 March 1863, when he resigned after the North Carolina state legislature elected him solicitor of the Seventh Judicial District on 2 December 1862.

Bynum's political career spanned the years 1863 to 1879. In 1865, he was elected a delegate from Lincoln County to the North Carolina Constitutional Convention. He helped to draft important amendments to the North Carolina Constitution, some of which the voters rejected. In 1866, he was elected to one term in the state senate to represent Lincoln, Gaston, and Catawba counties. In 1868, both political parties nominated him for a second term as solicitor, and he was elected. In the election of 1868, he threw his support to General U.S. Grant and the Republican Party.

On 20 November 1873, Bynum resigned his solicitorship to accept appointment from Governor Tod R. Caldwell to the unexpired term of Associate Justice Nathaniel Boyden of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Before he left the court on 6 January 1879, Bynum wrote some 346 opinions, including dissents.

In 1878, the Republican Party urged Bynum to run for another term on the Supreme Court, but he refused that and all future entreaties to return to politics. In 1879, he took up residence in Charlotte, where he remained and pursued his legal career until his death.

Bynum had two children, Mary Preston Bynum (1849-1875) and William Shipp Bynum (1848-1898), a lawyer and Episcopal clergyman of Lincolnton. William Shipp Bynum married Mary Louisa Curtis, daughter of Moses Ashley Curtis, and had eight children.

On the death of his grandson, William Preston Bynum (1871-1891) at the University of North Carolina in 1891, William Preston Bynum (1820-1909) built a gymnasium in his memory. He also constructed Episcopal chapels at the Thompson Episcopal Orphanage and in Greensboro.

William Preston Bynum (1861-1926) was the son of Benjamin Franklin Bynum and the nephew of William Preston Bynum (1820-1909). He graduated from Trinity College in 1883 and received an honorary degree from the University of North Carolina in 1922. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina from 1909 until his death in 1926. He was a Republican lawyer in Greensboro and served as solicitor, judge, and special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General.

Adapted from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography .

From the guide to the William Preston Bynum Papers, 1778-1916, 1941-1944, (Southern Historical Collection)